Jesus as God

Intro

This morning we looked at the credentials of Christ from . And I’m sorry to those who usually watch online that we didn’t have sound this morning, I’ve been having to shuffle computers back and forth and I guess the settings got set incorrectly or something. I apologize for that.

But tonight is going to be part two of what we talked about this morning. That Christs Credentials make him able to do all that he claims to be able to do. That he is able to reconcile us and redeem us to God through the power of his blood that he shed on the cross precisely because he is the word become flesh.

We talked about this morning that Christs credentials make him able to handle whatever we have going on in our lives. But I want to show you tonight that there is more than that at stake when it comes to understanding that Jesus is both 100% God and 100% Human.

So tonight I want to revisit the case that Christ is God through multiple angles and scriptures, so I hope you have your bibles with you tonight because I want to briefly look at the SUM of the truth that we spoke about this morning regarding the Deity of Christ.

But before we begin doing that tonight, I want to freely admit that I don’t fully comprehend how the doctrine known as the trinity or the Godhead works. There is a mysterious element at play that stems from the vastness of God that we with our fleshly minds are unable to comprehend, where words fail us and explanation ceases to be a possibility. So I’m not even going to attempt tonight to give you any physical illustration that doesn’t really help describe God at all.

In fact I’m going to point you to two scriptures:

Psalm 89:6–7 ESV

6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord, 7 a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him?

Isaiah 40:17–18 ESV

17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. 18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?

If the inspired writers of Scripture say that there is nothing in heaven to compare God to, surely there is nothing on Earth that will do either. Isaiah too, with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit claims there is nothing to liken God to, to compare him to, so I’m not going to tell you that the trinity is like an egg, with the shell, the white and the yolk that make up one egg. That is not at all what God is like. God is one, and yet God is Father, God is Son, and God is Holy Spirit.

Don’t try to do math on it because we are dealing with concepts that are not physical. God lives outside of time, outside of space, outside of matter, therefore why do we try to put Him in the box of our understanding? This concept is one that all of us have to come to terms with, the mystery of the trinity, but just because we don’t fully comprehend it, doesn’t make the doctrine any less true.

So without any more delay, lets cover the overflow of this mornings sermon:

Jesus is God because of the reasons we stated this morning:

He is the creator of all things in heaven and on earth

He holds all things together.

In Him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

But additionally, Jesus is God because...

He is Called God

As I mentioned this morning, there is no way what Paul wrote in is saying that Jesus is anything other than God because he would not only be contradicting loads of other scripture, he would be contradicting himself.

Perhaps the strongest evidence from the Gospels of Jesus being called God is

John 1:1–3 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

and then on down in v. 14

John 1:14 ESV

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The word, who was with God and was God, who was in the beginning with God became flesh and dwelt among us. That seems pretty clear right? Which brings up something that I always wonder, how many times does scripture have to same something before we will believe it? If this were the only place that outright said that Jesus was God, would that be enough for us to believe it?

I typically ask this question of baptism, because so many in the religous world want to say what about baptism? They say it doesn’t save, When clearly states what? Baptism now saves you! says what? He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. How many times does scripture have to say something before we’ll believe it?

Yet the fist chapter of John isn’t the only time that Jesus is called God:

There is also the account of Thomas as recorded in where Thomas when he lays eyes on the resurrected Jesus proclaims “My Lord and my God!” Now if Jesus was not God, do you think he would have been bashful about rebuking Thomas here? I mean, after all he called Peter “Satan” for expressing his desire to keep Jesus from a fate he couldn’t understand.

But if Jesus was not exactly who Thomas said for him to be, this would have been outright blasphemy against God. Yet Jesus never rebukes him. Why? Because he was absolutely correct.

So not only would the Holy Spirit inspire Paul to contradict the HOly Spirit inspired John, but he wouldn’t contradict himself.

In Paul said.

Romans 9:5 ESV

5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

In Peter states:

2 Peter 1:1 ESV

1 Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

Paul states the same thing in

Titus 2:13 ESV

13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

The Hebrews writer states:

Hebrews 1:8 ESV

8 But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

And of course the angel proclaims to Mary that Jesus will be called Immanuel which means “God with us” in .

There’s no way around it, Jesus is called God in numerous places according to numerous writers in the NT. He either is and they are telling the truth, or he is not and the NT is not reliable.

Secondly, Jesus is God because

Jesus claimed to be God

Now during my study with our friends last week, I stated this and was met with a fierce reaction where they stated, “No, Jesus never called himself God, he called himself the son of God!”

While it is true that Jesus never outright said the words “I am God.” He all but said it in

In Jesus was answering the Jews who were claiming that Jesus was Demon possessed. and they asked him “Are you greater than Abraham”

To which Jesus replied

John 8:58 ESV

58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

What was Jesus saying here?

To every Jew within Earshot the implication would have been clear as day:

Jesus appealed to and the account of Moses and the burning bush, When Moses asked God, Hey God, if I go to the people and tell them the God of their fathers has sent me to call them out of Egypt, and they ask me your name, what should I tell them?

Exodus 3:14 ESV

14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”

Exodus 3:14 ESV

14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”

Exodus 3:

The Jews had no doubt about what Jesus was saying: calling himself “I AM” is exactly what you think he is saying.

Well apparently, the Jews found this enough of a reason to pick up stones to stone him with, because they were reading it exactly right. Jesus was claiming to be the great I AM.

Well apparently, the Jews found this enough of a reason to pick up stones to stone him with, because they were reading it exactly right. Jesus was claiming to be the great I AM.

Well apparently, the Jews found this enough of a reason to pick up stones to stone him with, because they were reading it exactly right. Jesus was claiming to be the great I AM.

Not only did Jesus claim to be God, but he is also God because he

And

Accepted Worship

Perhaps you remember in and when Jesus began his ministry and was tempted in the wilderness by the Devil.

And in

Luke 4:5–8 ESV

5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ”

So who in the NT do we see accepting worship?

In Acts chapter 14 we see Paul and Barnabas in Lystra when they healed a man who had been crippled from birth. In response, the people there stated

“The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” and began to call Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes! Did they accept this worship? NO! They tore their garments and told them to stop, to turn to God and worship him!

John as he was being given the revelation of Jesus Christ fell down at the feet of an angel and began to worship and was rebuked

Revelation 19:10 ESV

10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Rev 19:

Revelation 22:8–9 ESV

8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, 9 but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”

Revelation 22:9 ESV

9 but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”

People are not to be worshipped, Angels are not to be worshipped, Satan is certainly not to be worshipped, Only God is to be worshipped!

So what does it say about Jesus that he accepted worship?

Matthew 28:8–9 ESV

8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.

Luke 24:52 ESV

52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,

Does Jesus rebuke them? Absolutely not! Why? Because Jesus is God and worthy of worship.

For the sake of time I’ll not go into the rest of the reasons that Jesus is God, I’ll just read them here for you and you can study them later if you wish.

Jesus is God because he forgives sin

Jesus is God because he is omniscient

Jesus is God because he is Lord.

Why It Matters

Some might ask the question, Why does this matter? Well it matters a great deal for several reasons.

First: If Jesus is not God, then he was either a liar or a lunatic. The statements that he made about himself were nothing less than him claiming to be God. If he was lying, then he couldn’t have been the perfect lamb of God, and if he was lunatic then he was out of touch with reality. If either of those things are true, then his cross holds no power, his blood does not cleanse us of our sins, and we are not forgiven. That sounds like it matters to me!

Second, If Jesus is not God, the NT is completely unreliable and therefore pointless to study. If the NT writers are not reliable to record something as important as the credentials of Christ then how can they be reliable in lesser things? The Deity of Christ is an undeniable core teaching of Christianity and to deny it is to deny Christ and the scriptures.

Lastly, If Jesus is not God, then God is not Just.

One of the defining aspects of God is his perfect justice. Throughout scripture much is said of God being a perfectly righteous judge, and I believe that to be true.

Deuteronomy 32:4 ESV

4 “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

But I’d be hard pressed to believe that is true if Jesus is not God.

But I’d be hard pressed to believe that is true if Jesus is not God.

Think about a court room setting where a Judge is handing down sentencing for a man guilty of murder and deserving of death. And at the last minute instead of sentencing the murderer to death, the judge chooses an innocent person from the crowd and condemns them to death in the place of the condemned.

Would we call that Justice? Even if the innocent man went willingly we might call that great love on the part of the man, but it’s hardly justice.

The only person that can step in is the judge himself. If the judge himself dies for the condemned, then perfect justice remains. There is no injustice on behalf of the innocent, because the judge paid the price.

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